KARACHI: Over 300 passengers of Pakistan International Airlines faced hardship at the Karachi airport for over three hours on Friday evening when their flight was delayed because of VIP movement.

According to highly-placed sources, security agencies took over the Karachi airport and suspended all ground movements of the aircraft and vehicles because President Mamnoon Hussain was flying to Islamabad. As a result, at least one PIA flight for Islamabad was delayed for over three hours.

According to the sources, a C-130 of Pakistan Air Force was called in to take the president to Islamabad and all ground movements at the airport were suspended at around 4.30pm.

The president boarded the special aircraft parked at the Terminal I (old airport) and it took off at around 7.45pm.

The aircraft for the PIA flight PK-370 was parked at a distant parking bay and could not be towed to the bay at the Jinnah Terminal where its over 300 passengers were waiting, because of movement restrictions.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2014